Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 10 (1927-07)

434 The Phonograph Monthly Review vsi: Brigg Fair (Goossens and the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra) H.M.V. D799 and D800—3 parts. Acoustic; now withdrawn from the catalogue. A complete and fairly satisfying record- ing, but hardly one to win new friends for Delius in spite of the fact that the composition is one of his most effective’ creations. On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring (Goossens) H.M.V. D800—on the fourth side of the Brigg Fair records. Acoustic; cut considerably; now withdrawn. Despite the cut, the in- terpretation is good and this recording is usually preferred to the complete one by Vocalion (K05181—Chappell and the Aeolian Chamber Orchestra); the tempo must be hurried to cram the complete work on one side. Dance Rhapsody (No. 1) (Wood and the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra) Columbia 67079D and 67080D—3 parts. Acoustic; very badly cut—in spite of the fact that a large portion of the records are unused. Extremely disappointing to anyone who knows the work, still of considerable value to those who are somewhat accustomed to Delius’ style. A Song Before Sunrise (Chappell and the Aeolian Chamber Orchestra) Vocalion . K05181—1 part. Acoustic; I am not aware whether it is complete or not. The work itself is a delightful little thing, not of great consequence, but one which with familiarity becomes more and more dear. Violin Sonata (Albert Sammons and Evelyn Howard-Jones) Columbia (English) D1500 and D1501—four parts, ten-inch records. Acoustic; rather poorly considered in England; the composition has its moments, but is hardly one of Delius’ happiest inspirations . Hassan Excerpts (H.M.Theatre Orchestra and chorus) H.M.V. C1134 and C1135—4 parts. Acoustic; withdrawn. Opinions vary considerably on the worth of this work. This incidental music to Flecker’s play is also, judging from the score, more of interest to the confirmed Delius student than to anyone unacquainted with his work. Summer Night on the River (National Gramophonic Society Chamber Orchestra) N.G.S. 72—2 parts. Electrical; undoubt- edly complete. A particularly beautiful example of Delius’ work in the smaller forms. The recording seems to be win- ning praise abroad. Songs: Twilight Fancies and Sweet Venevil (Leila Megane) H.M.V. E430—1 part each. Electrical. To Daffodils (Muriel Brunskill) Columbia (English) 3876—1 part. Acoustic; the song itself (I have not heard the record) contains the very essence of Delius’ genius. Summing up: only one Delius work is issued in this country—Dance Rhapsody—and that in a mutilated, ineffec- tive form. Excepting possibly the ’Cello Sonata and Sum- mer Night on the River—the latter limited to a restricted number of buyers—the other recorded compositions are not such to be of much real worth. They do not make new* friends for Delius and they do not satisfy old ones. (Appa- lachia, the early work which first made Delius known and which seems to have a remarkably wide appeal—consequently the ideal choice for recording—is absent entirely.) Returning to the article, it too is equally deserving of the reproach applied to the recorded works. An article on Delius that will serve to make him better understood must have synthetic as well as analytic qualities. After analyz’ng—as far as can be analyzed—the nature of that strange world of a “dream within a dream” which is Delius’, some clue must be given to the pathway to that world: the synthesizing of similar and attuned nature in the individual listener. Otherwise, the pathway will never be found; the casual interest of the average music lover will be dissipated when hearing—but not understanding—a Delius composition; he finds it alien and enigmatic. The clue not given here is hinted at in the splendid studies of the composer by Philip Heseltine and Cecil Gray, and lurks in the scores of that incomparable masterpiece—Sea- Drift, the titanic Mass of Life, or in the Violin and ’Cello Concertos, In a Summer Garden, even in the brief Nietzsche Songs and To Daffodils. For in the end. the Kingdom of Delius—as well as that of all music—is with'n us; we cannot find qualities in music which are not present to some extent in ourselves. The bonds between us and the composer are invisible, but they must be there. A conductor who performs a work of whose spiritual nature he is ignorant necessarily fails to evoke that inner life for others, and the music lover whose love is not based on insight, knowledge, and understanding fails no less certainly to find in any work the miraculous beauty with which the composer has endowed it—for those who have ears to hear and minds to comprehend. Boston, Mass. A Student. “The Sacrifices I Have Made to Obtain Good Records” A number of letters have been received already for the prize contest, “The Sacrifices I Have Made to Obtain Good Records,” announced in the June issue. Lack of space prevents the publica- tion of any of these letters in this issue, but next month we shall begin printing them and will con- tinue until the close of the contest, in Septem- ber. PRELIMINARY SOUND BOX SURVEY (Continued from Page 427) The new Columbia Viva Tonal box (see accom- panying cut) represents a further improvement over the first reproducer supplied with this ma- chine. It is made for use not only on the Viva Tonal, for which it is specially fitted and tuned, but also for other makes of instruments. (Price, $5.00.) New c 0 L U M B 1 A Sound Box The Victor Orthophonic Box is made exclu- sively for its own instrument and like the Bruns- wick cannot be used on other machines than the one for which it is expressly designed. One can have a mechanic make adaptions, of course, but in most cases these are not advisable. The reproducer on the Brunswick Prismatone is one of the finest aluminum diaphragmed boxes we have yet heard, but to what extent its merits depend on the tone arm and chamber of the in-